How long do you let your best friend be in pain before you let them go? My lab is in awful pain all the time, we keep trying everything, but it doesn't work. The pain meds make him sick, so he's either on pain meds, but puking or not and crying in his sleep. He had TPLO surgery 2 years ago and has never been the same dog since. Those pins in his hips and knees just never agreed with him and with everything I am learning about his allergies, I wonder if he is allergic to the metal in the pins. I just don't know what to do anymore. How long do I let him stay with me before it just becomes totally selfish?

I went through this two years ago... my cat was dieing and I could have hooked him up to a nasal feeding tube, and it may have been 6 months until he came off of it. It might have saved his life, it might not have, and my vet didn't feel that it was a realistic option for him. He was 2.5 years old.

I choose to put him down rather than torture him through somthing that probably wouldn't work. It was the hardest decision I have ever made, and I second guess it evry time I think about it. And that is all the time.

However, I know that he would have been miserable.

If he isn't haveing the life he used to have and you are unable to keep him comfortable, you need to 'measure' his quality of life, and I think only you can do that.

Pretend it is your best friend's dog, in the same situation. What advice would you give them?

Michelle

Inside me is a thin woman trying to get out. I usually shut the bitch up with a martini.

It's a very rough decision and it's all about quality of life. We tell our clients to make a list of 3 things that the dog LOVES doing. Once he no longer wants to do 2 or more of those things you need to make the decision.

It sucks. I'm horribly sorry you have to make it. I'm bawling my eyes out for you right now, as I do for every client who comes in and has to let go of a family member. It's so difficult . I'm sorry.

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another." -Anatole France

i had to let my 18 year old cat go 5 years ago. the pain is still here.. i kept her alive for 2 years when i should have done the right thing, when i came home from my honeymoon and really saw how bad she was i kicked myself for not helping her sooner.. her quality of life ended 2 years prior, but i kept her going with medicines... its the hardest thing we have to do. my prayers and condolences are with you and your family during this time.

We raised a litter of Papillon mix puppies last spring and early summer. There were three and one was "the runt". After 24hrs. with his mom we found him cold and blue, away from the litter. We resuscitated him and gave him glucose, fluids, etc. We put him back with mom. Another 24 hrs. and same thing. We resuscitated him AGAIN and by that I mean we stuck him with needles and gave him sub cu fluids, and he barely weighed a full pound. It hurt, we could tell, both times, because he'd whimper. We had him on antibiotics, vitamins, hi-cal paste, etc.
We realized then that he had a cleft palate. We started bottle feeding him. He was so tiny. But he ate, we had to learn how to not choke him as he ate. The antibiotics helped prevent a secondary infection from milk going in his sinus.
He never thrived...but he was still alive and with us. His eyes came open, later than the siblings but still they did. We cautiously hoped...he slept with me every night. I had to feed him then stimulate him every time he ate. He nestled in the curve of my neck and would snuggle up and sigh and go to sleep...I was his "mom"!
At four weeks, I realized what I had been noticing all along was really not right...I knew something was wrong but couldn't put my finger on it, or didn't want to...and then I realized it all, why he couldn't really walk or balance himself, why his head looked so huge...he had Hydrocephalus. I cried and cried...I read the statistics, googled and got information. Odds were not good...not with the severity of his problem.
But we have meds. We had, or could GET the right meds...lasix, and prednisone, etc. But would his quality of life ever been "great" or even "good"? And he'd been through so much already...we'd kept him alive...at 4 weeks of age, I euthanized him myself, through a haze of tears, I was surprised I could even see to do it. He went very quickly. He was very tired. He'd been having small seizures, we didn't realize, really, that's what it was, but I think in my heart I knew. It still hurts. That pain, never really goes away I don't think but it lessens over time. I'm glad for the four weeks I knew him. He was a fighter, and we were prepared to help him fight, but at the end, I think he was glad to be free of the pain. And I am glad I let him go free...

Run Hard at the Rainbow Bridge My Angel Sock-M! I Love You Baby Girl! Now that your Mom Starlit is up there too, please help her learn the ropes, love and keep her company until I can see you both again. Starlit I love you!http://i14.tinypic.com/2a8q345.jpg